johnzo

beauty punt by Zema.

Fajardo standing like a statue in the collapsing pocket. seeing none of that rambling scrambling action that was his big strength just a few years ago.

I don't think this game is gonna be close. I think the Argos are gonna bury the Als. This one's over by the second quarter. (I am very bad at predictions, so your best move after reading this is to bet on an Als win in quadruple overtime)

Naylor on Twitter says the EF ticket count is crossing 25k. Love to see it.

Putting the brrrrrr in Geebrr! (I'll see myself out)

Calgary Stampeders Classics has been uploading tons of old CFL games on Youtube lately. That's gonna be my offseason CFL hit. Can't be bothered to follow the NHL when they don't play meaningful games until May, and NFL is fun once in awhile if a friend is hosting a viewing party.

and an autographed Fajardo jersey. damn, this guy is leaning into his heel gimmick.

Ticats will be in on the Brown sweepstakes, I think. Actually, both of these teams should be in on the Brown sweepstakes.

seems like it's not as horrible as it was last year. still annoying, but i think TSN is doing a better job of micing the crowd.

well yeah, and obviously all those passing yards didn't hurt em on the scoreboard -- third best D in points allowed and 16-2. it's just an interesting outlier of a number, especially when compared with Ottawa, which had a bad defence that was like 2005 Bombers bad. If Ottawa was just slightly better defensively, they would've crossed over into the West -- lost a ton of one-score games.

https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023_CFL_League_Stats_Report_Week_21.pdf they don't make it easy to find -- it's at "stats thru week 21" under the stats menu on cfl.ca BC fourth overall against the run, giving up just under 100 yards a game. On the flipside, Calgary third overall in pass defence. Interesting: Toronto had the second worst secondary in the league from a yards allowed standpoint, they gave up almost 300 yards a game. That's even more interesting when you figure they had lots of games against teams starting their QB3 or Fajardo. The only worse team at pass defense was Ottawa, and that was a lousy secondary that could not protect a lead at all, it cost them multiple games.

this is gonna sound crazy, but he kinda reminds me of the 1994-1995 Anthony Calvillo. Has got obvious skills and can make some great throws but he isn't quite feeling the game yet. I think if he sticks around he could level up. (I know nothing about developing quarterbacks)

I think the idea is that we trade his negotiation rights before free agency in order to allow another team the chance to sign him before free agency starts. That's how we got Drew Willy, we traded Jade Etienne to get his rights before the 2014 free agency season was underway. Whether we could get a high first seems like a question.

I think it's more likely that Hamilton is due. Calling it -- BLM is gonna have one last ride, he'll outduel Fajardo and take his team to BMO.

Montreal is the ultimate mid-tier CFL team. They were 0-7 against BC, Winnipeg, and Toronto and 11-0 against the rest of the league. Wonder how often that's happen -- undefeated against lesser teams, winless against the top tier.

yeah, it's like leading the league in kickoff return yardage. It was ridiculous last night showing Awe passing Singleton for the stamps tackle record -- The Stamps had the best D in the league during Singleton's record-setting years, they were Grey Cup finalists both years, Singleton was the team MOP in one of them, and he's now making megabucks in the NFL. Any list that puts Awe above Singleton is dumb...unless it's a fine money list.

Not really. Flutie moving onto Toronto wasn't a football decision, it was much more about Larry Ryckman declaring bankruptcy and tearing up Flutie's big money personal services contract. typical 90s CFL chicanery.

I wonder if that that weird quads play was RPO or not -- Prukop had miles and miles of space there if he'd kept the ball.

I don't think we need to see ZC out there at all: dude doesn't seem to need the game reps to stay sharp and I strongly believe we would have won the cup last year if he wasn't banged up ... he missed some throws in that game that he'd been making all year. Those pinpoint ZC passes weren't happening. (Note: I know nothing about coaching football)

I remember the times -- mostly Lapo times -- when fourth quarter leads were meaningless and the Bombers O simply couldn't close out games, we'd usually go 2-and-out when the chips were down. hell, I think those Lapo teams were the inspiration for the "no lead is safe" catchphrase. I don't have the numbers to prove it, but I think our clutch running game has won several games for us this year. If I had infinite time I'd look at how often Brady O. carries the ball in the fourth quarter of a one-score game -- my impression is that the higher the stakes, the more he gets the ball.

Hmmm, Yoshi over Bryant for Blue MOOL.

yup, just like the 2011 and 2014 Bombers. Come blazing out of the gates in the summertime, lack of depth gets exposed, stagger to the finish, then regress badly the next year. (yeah, I know we were Grey Cup finalists in 2011. That was a big fluke -- my time machine says that we would have lost the east final had the TiCats not beat Montreal in the ESF)

I'm not sure that's the case -- based on what I saw during the regular season, he wasn't super good in his short yardage role. Pigrome's performance with the redblacks definitely validated the bombers' decision to cut him when Prukop came available.

I think you could say that of any of our guys. There's not a single one of them that can be safely ignored, they're all playmakers and a secondary has to account for every man of our starting five. I think Lawler is gonna benefit from Schoen and Demski and Woli and Bailey just like those guys benefit from him.